"We're going to vie for that headquarters," Mayor Tim Flynn announced at Tuesday's City Council meeting. "It will not only make history, it will not only transform the city of Oxnard, it will not only transform the county of Ventura, it will transform all of California. It will transform the nation."

The vacant property eyed for Amazon is Sakioka Farms, located between Rice Avenue and Del Norte Boulevard, south of Highway 101. After property owners indicated to the city their intentions to sell, City Manager Greg Nyhoff headed to Sacramento to meet with the governor's office about the application process.

Nyhoff said about 30 other California applicants, from the San Diego region to the Bay Area, were there. But California cities will face competition from across the country and Canada.

"There will be stiff competition, but Oxnard has some extremely special components and assets no other cities have," Nyhoff said. "I would like to think when L.A. shows up, well, you have the choice of being parked on the 405 all your life or you can get a pack of fresh strawberries for breakfast."

Amazon wants to build in a metropolitan area with more than 1 million people, on a site that's about 45 minutes from an international airport and is less than two miles from the freeway. The project will be conducted in phases, with the first phase in 2019.

That Oxnard is vying for the coveted headquarters is great news, said Jamshid Damooei, who chairs the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. Not only would there be job creation, Damooei said; there would be creation of high-paying jobs.

That kind of investment from a company can cause a multiplier effect, Damooei said.

"Let's say you have a company spending a million dollars in the region. There are two effects that follow that," he said.

There is the direct effect of an employer paying an employee, as well as the indirect effect of the employee spending money.

"You have a ripple effect," Damooei said. "This is why at the end of the day, for every dollar you spend, the actual effect will be 1.7 or 1.8 dollars."

According to Amazon, for every dollar the company invested in Seattle, $1.4 was generated overall. From 2010 to 2016, Amazon predicts its investments have created an additional $38 billion to Seattle's economy.

The company has big promises and wants big incentives, too. In its instructions to applicants, Amazon indicated that grants and tax breaks are critical decision drivers.

Oxnard is vying to become home to Amazon's new headquarters, which will employ 50,000. Good idea?

Matthew Fienup, executive director of Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at CLU, said municipalities should be careful in considering an incentive package for large corporations like Amazon. The taxpayer costs in the form of corporate incentives don't necessarily give the community a return on investment, Fienup said.

"What I'd like to see is cities and the county aggressively work to knock down barriers to growth for existing employers," Fienup said. "It'd be great to see Amazon come. But I'd like to see us court existing employers so they can remain."

Companies like Thousand Oaks-based Amgen are downsizing and leaving Ventura County, and that trend will likely continue, Fienup said. He added that the benefits Seattle received might not translate elsewhere.

"It is true that Amazon produced economic growth and economic opportunities for the Seattle metropolitan area, but that does not mean providing large tax breaks for a mature company will produce the same benefits," Fienup said.

“It'd be great to see Amazon come. But I'd like to see us court existing employers so they can remain.”

Matthew Fienup

While a local incentive package will have to be finalized by the City Council, Oxnard's application will include some details on possible perks.

Nyhoff said the city won't be able to waive property taxes or enter a sales tax agreement like cities in other states can. The city might be able to defer some fees or waive development plan review fees, he said.

During the public comment period of Tuesday's Oxnard City Council meeting, speaker Barbara Macri-Ortiz aired her skepticism.

"Amazon is great news, but you're going to lose," Macri-Ortiz said. "Chances are, you're going to lose because you don't have housing."

Nyhoff doesn't believe the regional housing inventory makes Oxnard a weak candidate. He said compared to the more expensive areas of San Diego and the Bay Area, housing costs in Ventura County are relatively low.

"I think you have to look very broadly at this," Nyhoff said. "You can't just look at Oxnard. It's Simi. It's Burbank. You're looking at going down to L.A. and going down to Santa Barbara."

He said whenever something as big as Amazon arrives, there will be impacts on traffic and home prices will rise.

"We want to watch that very carefully. We don't want to be stuck in a place where housing is no longer affordable," Nyhoff said. "We would have to be very careful about ensuring highway improvements so we don't end up turning into L.A."